Mechanism for playing zithers



May29, 1923.

1,457,187 P. RIESSNER MECHANISM FOR PLAYING ZITHERSv Filed July '19. 1920 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 zrv'ivwss'esx May 29, 1923.

P. RIESSNER MECHANISM FOR PLAYING ZITHERS Fi led July 19 1920 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 29, 1923.

1,457,187 P. RIESSNER MECHANISM FOR PLAYING ZITHERS Filed July 19 1920 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 May 29, 1923.

1,457,187 P. RIESSNER MECHANISM FOR PLAYING ZITHERS May 29, 1923.

1,457,187 P. RIESSNER MECHANISM FOR PLAYING ZITHERS Filed July 19 1920 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 7757-- F/EB- Inventor:

Patented May 29, 1923.

PAUL RIESSNER, OF LUCKENWALDE, GERMANY.

MECHANISM FOR PLAYING ZITHERS.

Application filed July 19, 1920. Serial No. 397,538.

To all whomit may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL RnissNnR, a citizen of the German Republic, and a resident of Luckenwalde, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanisms for Playing Zithers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an operating mechanism for zithers (chord-zithei's or guitar-zithers), by means of which the melody of a piece of music can be produced wholly automatically with a mandolin-like timbre, while on the other hand the appropriate accompaniment is produced by means of manual operation of the player. For this purpose the necessary instructions are given upon the sheet of music, wh ch facilitates the playing, in the same height with the notes. provided thereon. \Vith my invention it is possible to produce upon one single instrument an-ensemble-playing of a plurality of instruments, for instance mandolin, zither and guitar, without it being necessary, that the player must have any previous knowl- 1 edge of zither-playing.

For attaining the just-mentioned purpose my invention consists of three arrangements, which are combined with each other, namely (1), the device for plucking the melody strings. (2), the arrangement for selecting the strings for the piece of music by means of the note sheet, which indicates at the same time the accompaniment, which latter however can be altered by the player, when desired. and (8), the device for returning the note sheet into the initial position, after the respective piece of music has been fini'shed.

In the accompanying drawings, in which one embodiment of my novel operating mechanism for automatically playing Zithers is illustrated.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of such an automatic operating mechanism attached to a zither.

Fig. 2 is a cross section on line II-II of Fig. 1 and shows the plucking device'and its driving mechanism in front view.

Figs. 2v and 2 illustrate a detail of. com

struction in two different operative positions. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on line IIIIII of Fig. '1 and shows the plucking device and the note sheet in side view, partly in section.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the device for returning the note sheet into its initial position.

Fig. 5 shows a detail of the uncoupling device, and

Fig. 6 represents in plan view and partial edge view the front part of a tone sheet.

Fig. 7 is a side view of the string engaging member of the plucking device, and

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the same, seen from below. i

The device for plucking the melody strings consists of a bar 1, which is caused to oscillate in its longitudinal direction by means of a star wheel 2, keyed to the driving shaft 3 and acting upon the rollers a and 5, which are secured to the bar 1. The oscillating movements of the latter, which are facilitated by the springs 47 on which said bar is suspended, follow each other thus quickly, that a mandolin like sound is produced. The springs 47 are attached to the supporting side members 48 of the frame structure, carrying the shaft of the note sheet supply roll, hereinafter referred to. For this purpose the bar 1 is provided with as many notches 7, as the zither possesses melody strings 6. lVithin the'notches 7 of the bar 1 the plucking bodies 9 are mounted upon a common shaft 8. Each of the individual plucking bodies is provided with a spiral spring, which, when the note sheet begins to unwind, that means in the inoperative position of the blocks 9, which carry picks in the form of springs 10, occupies a position just above the melody strings 6. The ends of these spiral springs 10 are bent off in flattened shape, so as to form eyes, the direction of which coincides with or is parallel to the longitudinal direc tion of the strings. Each block 9 is furthermore provided with a short lever arm 11, which is yieldingly connected by means of a thread-like member 12, consisting for instance of gutstring or silk cord, to the proper drop lever 18. The drop levers 13 are mounted as usual in forked bearings 14 of a frame 15 and are provided at their free ends with hooks 16, the points of which slide on the lower face of the note sheet; they are, however, projected through said note sheet as soon as one of the incisions 18 of the note sheet enters into the plane of movement of the respective hooklG. The hook 16 of said lever 13 ascends accordingly. while the other end of said lever and therewith the connecting member 12 and the block 9 drops downwardly, so that the appropriate string is plucked alternately from the left and right side several times in quick succession as during the just described operation also the longitudinal oscillating movement of the bar 1 is maintained. The note sheet 17 is wound upon the roll 19 while unwinding from the supply roll 20; the movement of the note sheet 1?, or of the take-up roll 19, upon which said note sheet is wound, is effected by means of the same shaft 8, which etlects also the quick longitudinal oscillating movements of the plucking device. However the note sheet and the plucking device are not operated with the same speed and the device for winding up the note sheet is driven considerably slower than the device for playing the note sheet by means of the driving gear wheel 21, secured to the rear end of the shaft 3 and meshing with the gear wheel 23.

In order to keep the note sheet 17 unitormly tensioned during the winding upon the roller 19 and to prevent an automatic raising of the same a counter pressing member 2-1 is. provided, which has the same numberot notches as key levers 13 are present. By this arrangement the note sheet is always held in the same plane of engagementat the points oi engagement of the hooks 16 or" the individual key levers the latter extend radially (Fig. 1) from the point of engagement of the hooks 16, as the distribution of the incisions of the note sheet is made more narrow than the distance of the melody strings from each other.

For the purpose of rewinding the note. sheet, after a piece of music has been finished it is necessar to prevent the note sheet from touching the drop levers, so that its return movement is not impeded, and accordingly a device for uncoupling the rear end of the sha'lt3'orthe driving gear 21, respectively, is provided. For this purpose the abutment bar 2-1- tor the key lovers can be rotated or turned. at its one end around a pin 26 and is provided at this end with a handle 27 for effecting this turning movement. The other end of the abutment bar however carries a shaft 28, in which the uncoupling fork 29 for the shaft 3 is longitudinally shiftably arranged. and is provided with a steering or reversing cam 30 (Fig. 4t), by means of which at the turning of the abutment bar the uncoupling member 29 is shifted in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 5, so that the driving gear 21, arranged at the end of the shaft 3, is pushed into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4; and thereby the engagement between the driving gear 21 and the gear wheel 22 issuspended. When now the driving crank handle is removed from the front end or the shaft 3 and placed upon the square end Ill 01 the shatt ot the unwinding roll 20 the note sheet can be quickly rewound.

In the before described plucking device the note sheet causes only movements of those strings, which correspond to the melody notes, while the accoinpaniment strings 10, which are arranged in chord groups, must be plucked by the player with his left hand. In order to facilitate the selection of the correct chord group and to obviate the plucking of false acc'ompaninnznt strings the note sheet is provided at the height of the respective melody note with a sign, number, letter or the like, which indicates plainly the chord group to be plucked. Still more conspicuously these signs can be represented by incisions of the note sheet, the incisions however in this case not acting upon a driving member of the playing device. Furthermore the arrangement can be made .in such a manner, that in the accompaniment the base note is separated by special signs from the accompaniment chord and that this separation is indicated at the respective point by a special imprint. In Fig. (5 the entrances of the accompaniment are indicated by Latin numerals IV (Figs. 1 and (5) with perforations arranged abreast of said numerals, the individual numerals corresponding to the base note of the respective chord group, while the underlined numc "als indicate only the accompaniment strings; however this arrangement can be made also in the reversed manner or in any other suitable form with more exact indications.

it self evident, that the before described arrangement could act upon all the strings of the zither and not only upon the melody strings oi the same and in this case a purely i'i'iechanically operated musical instrument would be attained.

Having thus particularly described the nature of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent ot the United States is:

1. lvlechanisn'i for playing zithcrs, comprising in combination plucking devices tor plucking the melody strings, a resiliently suspended bar adapted to be oscillattal longitudinally, means for effecting the longitudinal oscillating movement of said bar. and of the plucking devices, mounted within notches of the bar, means including a note sheet for selecting the melody strings to be plucked, signs on said note sheet, indicating the accompaniment chords or groups of strings to be manually plucked at the same time by the player and means for returning the note sheet into the initial position after the piece of music has been played.

2. Mechanism for playing zithers, comprising in combination plucking devices for plucking the melody strings, .a resiliently suspended bar adapted to be oscillated loo longitudinall a crank handle shaft, a star wheel on sai shaft and two guiding rollers, secured to said resiliently suspended bar, said star wheel and guide rollers being adapted to effect the longitudinal oscillating movement of said bar and of the plucking devices, mounted within notches of the bar, means including a note sheet for selecting the melody strings to be plucked, signs on said note sheet, indicating the accompaniment chords or groups of strings to be manually plucked at the same time by the player and means for returning the note sheet into the initial position after the piece of music has been played.

3. Mechanism for playing zithers, comprising in combination a resiliently suspended bar, adapted to be oscillated longitudinally and being provided with as many notches, as melody strings are present, individual plucking devices for the single melody strings, said plucking devices being mounted on a common shaft within the notches of said bar, means for efi'ecting the longitudinal oscillating movement of said bar and said plucking devices, spiral springs attached to the lower ends of said plucking devices and being adapted to pluck said melody strings by means of their hook-like ends, droplevers, adapted to operate said pluckin devices and being provided at their free ends with hooks, means including a note sheet for selecting the melody strings to be plucked, incisions in said note sheet, representing the melody strings to be plucked and adapted to receive the hooks of said drop levers, and means for returning the note sheet into the initial position after the piece of music has been played.

4. Mechanism for playing zithers, comprising in combination a resiliently suspended ba'r, adapted to be oscillated longitudinally and being provided with as many notches, as melody strings are present, in-

dividual plucking devices for the single melody strings, said lucking devices being mounted on a common shaft within the notches of said bar, means for effecting the longitudinal oscillating movement of said bar and said plucking devices, spiral springs attached to the lower ends of said plucking devices and being adapted to pluck said melody strings by means of their hook-like ends, radially arranged drop levers adapted to operate said plucking devices and being provided at their free ends with hooks, a frame adapted to support said radially arranged drop levers, means including a note sheet for selecting the melody strings to be plucked, incisions in said note sheet, representing the melody strings to be plucked and adapted to receive the hooks of said drop levers and means for returning the note sheet into the initial position after the piece of music has been played.

5. Mechanism for playing zithers, comprising in combination a resiliently suspended bar, adapted to be oscillated longitudinally and being provided with as many notches, as melody strings are present, individual plucking devices for the single melody strings, said plucking devices being mounted 011 a common shaft within the notches of said bar, means for effecting the longitudinal oscillating movement of said bar and said plucking devices, spiral springs attached to the lower ends of said plucking devices and being adapted to pluck said melody strings by means of their hook-like ends, radially arranged drop levers adapted to operate said plucking devices and being provided at their free ends with hooks, a frame adapted to support said radially arranged drop levers, means including a note sheet for selecting the melody strings to be plucked, incisions in said note sheet, representing the melody strings to be plucked and adapted to receive the hooks of said drop levers, an abutment bar, provided with the same number of notches, as drop levers are present, and adapted to secure said note sheet against any change of position in regard to said drop levers, said abutment bar being rotatably mounted, a device for uncoupling the gear mechanism for driving the roll, upon which said note sheet is Wound, said device being supported by one end of said rotatably mounted abutment bar, and means for rewinding said note sheet from said roll to the supply roll.

In testimony whereof I affix my si nature.

PAUL RIESS ER. 

